A teacher screens students as schools begin to reopen after the coronavirus disease lockdown
PRETORIA, June 9 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Children in South Africa began returning to classrooms on Monday as part of a gradual loosening of COVID-19 lockdown restrictions even as some parents worried not enough had been done to protect the health of pupils.
The reopening of schools was delayed after teachers’ unions urged school staff to defy the government order last week, saying schools lacked sufficient health and hygiene measures to keep educators and pupils safe.
South Africa, the continent’s most industrialised nation, has recorded nearly 50,000 cases of the new coronavirus – the most of any African country – along with almost 1,000 deaths.
Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga said that ramped-up efforts to equip schools over the past week meant that 95% of South Africa’s primary and secondary schools were now able to host classes, and the biggest teachers union dropped its resistance to the reopening.
“The golden rule is there will be no school that will resume if not ready to do so,” Motshekga said.
As children trickled through the gates of one primary school in Soweto, a township outside Johannesburg, their temperatures were taken at a makeshift health check-point.
One school official tried to assuage parents’ fears, assuring them that masks and gloves were being provided to children and classes were limited to 20 pupils.
Initially, only pupils in grades 7 and 12 will return to class; other years will be phased in gradually.
Government officials worry that further delaying a return to classrooms would mean a generation of school children risks losing a key part of their education. — NNN-AGENCIES
